Drilling Home A Point.

From the AP, via HuffPo: 

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has rejected a Bush administration plan to open vast waters off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts to oil and gas drilling, promising "a new way forward" in offshore energy development including new wind projects.

The secretary said the previous administration's plan did not take into consideration the views of states and coastal communities, nor a need to better understand what energy resources are at stake, especially off the Atlantic coast where oil and gas estimates are more than three decades old.

Salazar did not rule out expanded offshore drilling, but criticized "the enormous sweep" of the Bush proposal, which envisioned energy development from New England to Alaska including lease sales in areas off California and in the North Atlantic that have been off-limits for a quarter century.

Salazar directed Interior Department scientists to produce new reports on how much oil and gas might be found off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and extended the public comment period on a new five-year leasing plan to September. He said he will hold regional meetings to get comments from the public before continuing with an offshore energy plan.

Salazar said any offshore energy plan must include a push for more renewable energy, principally wind power.

The National Resources Defense Council (NRCD) applauded the move.

I regularly see oil tankers just off the coast, ready to feed the local refineries that share our coastal communities.

Speaking as a guy who already routinely gets oily gunk stuck between his toes during walks along the beach--and that's without offshore drilling--thank you.